Police: Man threatened woman with gun before sexual assault

JANESVILLE—A Janesville woman feared for her life when a man she knew threatened her with a gun and sexually assaulted her inside her home earlier this month, according to court documents.

Armando Tinajero, 35, of 218 Riverside St., Janesville, will make an adjourned initial appearance Tuesday in Rock County Court, where he has been charged with first-degree sexual assault and false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon, court records show.

The woman told police Tinajero went to her south Janesville home Sept. 1 and the two talked, according to a criminal complaint.

When the woman tried to leave the house and get away from Tinajero, he grabbed her arm, pulled out a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and pointed it “in her direction,” according to court documents.

Tinajero then told the woman to go to her bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her while keeping the gun nearby, authorities said.

She told police she was afraid that Tinajero would kill her if she didn't have sex with him, according to the complaint.

Police arrested Tinajero early the next morning.

He admitted owning a gun and having sex with the woman, but he told police it was consensual, authorities said.

Tinajero was charged Sept. 3 with being a felon in possession of a firearm—court records show he was convicted of not reporting to jail in 2010. He pleaded not guilty to that charge last week, court records show.

While Tinajero was locked in jail on the firearms charge, Janesville police continued their investigation into the sexual assault, and prosecutors filed those charges against him on Sept. 13.